The UN recently completed a study of Iraqi standards of living over the last 25 years. Let's just say that the results weren't very good. However, the analysis of the report is even worse.
It is highly likely that most households now have a lower real income than almost 25 years ago, said the report, entitled the Iraqi Living Conditions Survey 2004.For starters, is there any way to measure the difference between Sunnis who were on the Ba'athist dole and everyone else. The Ba'athists did quite well for themselves, to the exclusion of everyone else. Taking Kurds and Shi'a out of extreme poverty will take many years, but there has been explosive economic growth throughout the country, which is a sign of pent up demand.
Almost a quarter of children aged between six months and five years old are suffering from chronic malnutrition, it said.How many children were suffering from malnutrition during the Saddam years? How many were simply killed, along with their parents for being enemies of the state for simply being Kurds, Marsh Arabs, or Shi'ites? That number stands in the hundreds of thousands.
The report says that while the infrastructure exists to allow access to basic supplies - like electricity and clean running water - it is not reliable.It wasn't reliable during the Saddam years, and he purposely rationed power to ensure that his cronies got it, to the exclusion of everyone else. No new investments in infrastructure over 25+ years will mean that infrastructure needs to be built, not just rehabilitated.
In some areas, the situation has worsened dramatically since the fall of the regime.Saddam actions, and the concurrent imposition of sanctions, meant that Iraqis could not purchase televisions, cable or satellite tv, computers, or internet connections. These areas have seen tremendous growth in the last two years. However, that growth comes at a huge cost. It takes a lot of power generation capabilities to make sure that everyone has sufficient power to run the tv, radios, computers, and all the new electronics that are streaming into the country. If demand outstrips supply, there will be rationing of power, including rolling blackouts.Iraqis living in Baghdad, for example, now only have about ten hours of electricity each day, half of what they enjoyed in 2003.
This is basic economic theory in action. We have huge pent up demand, and supply cannot catch up quick enough. The US saw something similar in California during the power crisis a few years back, and forecasters are consistently stating that the US will face a crisis if new power generating capabilities are not brought on line.
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